State’s microbrewers develop success with their own lobby

OLYMPIA — Former brewer Arlen Harris, who used to painstakingly transform barley and hops into fine ales, waited impatiently at the door to the Senate chambers, looking for a chance to buttonhole a lawmaker about a bill.

“Sometimes I miss the silence,” Harris said. “Brewing is very quiet, just shut the door and work in silence. In lobbying, it’s a different kind of hustling.”

Harris, the executive director of the two-year-old Washington Beer Commission and a rookie lobbyist, said getting to know the key players in Olympia, pitching bills and simply learning to wait patiently have been among the lessons he’s learned.

Microbreweries first arrived in Washington state in the 1850s, later disappearing during Prohibition. Craft brewing has soared in popularity during the past 20 years, but brewers only recently began to organize politically with success.

But in a town where lawmakers tie alcohol to social problems such as drunken driving, lobbying for beer can be tricky.

In recent Senate and House floor debates about a bill that would create a beer and wine tasting pilot program in select grocery stores around the state, many lawmakers stood in opposition.

“The governor had a bill that created sobriety checkpoints,” said Sen. Jim Hargrove, D-Hoquiam, during the Senate debate. “If this bill passes, we ought to set them up in the parking lot in front of all the grocery stores because there’s going to be some people wandering around the grocery store that get four, five or six samples, and end up not being in a condition to drive.”

The beer and wine tasting bill was passed by the Legislature on Friday, barely clearing the House on a tight 51-41 vote, highlighting how contentious the issue of promoting alcohol can be for some lawmakers.

Even with opposition, the craft beer industry is getting results, pushing its agenda with a good-for-small-local-businesses pitch. Microbreweries also have the support of the restaurant industry, and the local wine industry, which served as a model for the brewers’ political efforts. One of the bills this year included all three sectors in its language, and was lobbied by all three industries in unison.

It also helps that there are microbreweries in many legislative districts, and the ingredients used come from agricultural areas in Eastern Washington.

“We like to promote what’s in our districts,” said Sen. Jeannie Kohl-Welles, D-Seattle, who has sponsored several bills. “Whether they’re Democrat or Republican, both like to promote Washington wine and beer.”

There are more than 80 microbreweries scattered throughout the state, contributing more than $200 million to the state’s economy, according to commission figures. And the vast majority of the country’s hops are grown in the Pacific Northwest.

Nationally, the microbrewery sector grew by 21 percent last year and 16 percent in 2006, according to the Colorado-based Brewers Association.

But microbreweries are dwarves compared with the national beer giants, and operate under heavy government regulation, prompting the brewers to try to help themselves in Olympia.

Their biggest victory so far was the creation of the Washington Beer Commission in 2006. The commission allows for a focused effort to market local craft beer.

This year, microbreweries are pushing for bills that would allow them to own a restaurant or pub without the need to have brewing equipment on-site, open a warehouse in a different city to avoid transportation costs, and offer samples of beer in grocery stores.

Some of the work this session has already paid off. Besides the beer sampling measure, the off-site warehouse bill and the bill pushed by the wine, brewery and restaurant sectors also cleared the Legislature last week.

Many laws in place, Harris said, were drafted during Prohibition and need to be changed.

But taxes, not marketing, were the initial catalyst.

“About five years ago, there was a push to raise the excise tax on beer, and that was a major motivating factor for people reluctant to take a trip to Olympia,” said Doug Hindman, who owns the Elliot Bay Brewery and Pub in Seattle. “Being local businesses, and most of us in small communities, we had an in. We weren’t just multinational companies that came before the Legislature asking for something that was benefiting a corporation with headquarters in Chicago.”